Legendary tanks of the second world. Military review and politics Which tank is the best in World War II

When tanks appeared during the First World War, it became clear that it would no longer be possible to fight the battles as before. Old-fashioned tactical schemes and tricks completely refused to work against mechanical "animals" equipped with machine guns and cannons. But " finest hour»steel monsters fell on the next war - the Second World War. That the Germans, that the allies were well aware that the key to success is hidden precisely in powerful tracked vehicles. Therefore, crazy money was allocated for the constant modernization of tanks. Thanks to this, metal "predators" have evolved at a rapid pace.

This Soviet tank gained legendary status as soon as it appeared on the battlefield. The metal beast was equipped with a diesel engine for 500 "horses", "advanced" armor, a 76 mm F-34 gun and wide tracks. This configuration allowed the T-34 to become the best tank of its time.

Another advantage of the combat vehicle was the simplicity and manufacturability of its design. Thanks to this, it was possible to establish mass production of the tank in the shortest possible time. Already by the summer of 1942, about 15 thousand T-34s were produced. In total, during the production of the USSR, more than 84 thousand "thirty-fourths" in various modifications were created.

In total, about 84 thousand T-34s were produced

The main problem of the tank was its transmission. The fact is that she, along with the power unit, were in a special compartment located in the stern. Thereby technical solution, the cardan shaft was unnecessary. The leading role was assigned to control rods, the length of which was about 5 meters. Accordingly, it was difficult for the driver to manage them. And if a person coped with difficulties, then the metal sometimes gave slack - the traction was simply torn. Therefore, T-34s often went into battle in one gear, switched on in advance.

"Tiger" was created with one goal - to crush any enemy and turn him into a stampede. Hitler himself personally ordered that the new tank be covered with a frontal armor plate 100 millimeters thick. And the stern and sides of the "Tiger" were covered with armor of 80 millimeters. The main "trump card" of the combat vehicle was the weapon - this is the 88 mm KwK 36 cannon, created on the basis of the "anti-aircraft gun". The gun was distinguished by a sequence of hits and also a record rate of fire. Even in combat conditions, the KwK 36 could “spit” shells as many as 8 times in a minute.

In addition, the "Tiger" was another of the fastest tanks of the time. It was set in motion by the Maybakhovsky power unit with 700 hp. He was accompanied by an 8-speed hydromechanical gearbox. And along the chassis, the tank could accelerate to 45 km / h.

"Tiger" cost 800,000 Reichsmarks

It is curious that in the technical memo that lay in each "Tiger", there was an inscription: "The tank costs 800,000 Reichsmarks. Take care of him!". Goebbels believed that the tankers would be proud to be entrusted with such an expensive toy. But the reality was often different. The soldiers were terrified that something might happen to the tank.

Tank evolution developed rapidly. Opponents constantly brought to the "ring" more and more advanced fighters. IS-2 was a worthy answer to the USSR. The heavy breakthrough tank was equipped with a 122 mm howitzer. If a shell from this gun hit a building, then, in fact, only ruins remained from it.

In addition to the howitzer, the arsenal of the IS-2 included 12.7 mm DShK machine gun located on the tower. The bullets fired from this weapon pierced even the thickest brickwork. Therefore, the enemies had practically no chance to hide from the formidable metal monster. Another important advantage of the tank is its armor. It reached 120 mm.

Shot IS-2 turned the building into ruins

There were, of course, and without minuses. The main thing - fuel tanks in the department of management. If the enemy managed to break through the armor, then the crew of the Soviet tank had practically no chance of escaping. The driver was the worst. After all, he did not have his own hatch.

Before colliding with the Germans, a heavy tank passed baptism of fire in the war with the Finns. The monster weighing 45 tons was an invincible enemy until the very end of 1941. Tank protection was 75 millimeters of steel. Frontal armor plates were located so well that the shell resistance terrified the Germans. Still would! After all, their 37 mm anti-tank guns could not penetrate the KV-1 even from a minimum distance. As for 50 mm guns, then the limit is 500 meters. And a Soviet tank, equipped with a long-barreled 76 mm F-34 gun, could knock out the enemy from a distance of about one and a half kilometers.

Weak transmission - the main "sore" KV-1

But, unfortunately, the tank also had shortcomings. the main problem consisted in a "raw" design, which was hastily put into production. The real "Achilles heel" of the KV-1 was the transmission. because of heavy loads related to the weight of the combat vehicle, it broke too often. Therefore, during retreats, tanks had to be abandoned or destroyed. Since it was unrealistic to repair them in combat conditions.

Nevertheless, the Germans managed to snatch several KV-1s. But they didn't let them in. Constant breakdowns and the lack of necessary spare parts quickly put an end to captured cars.

The German "Panther" weighing 44 tons was superior to the T-34 in mobility. On the highway, this "predator" could accelerate to almost 60 km / h. He was armed with a 75 mm KwK 42 cannon, in which the barrel length was 70 calibers. "Panther" could "spit" armor-piercing sub-caliber projectile flying a kilometer in the first second. Thereby German car could knock out almost any enemy tank at a distance exceeding a couple of kilometers.

"Panther" could penetrate the armor of the tank at a distance of over 2 kilometers

If the forehead of the "Panther" was protected by an armor plate with a thickness of 60 to 80 mm, then the armor on the sides was thinner. Therefore, Soviet tanks tried to hit the "beast" in that weak spot.

In total, Germany managed to create about 6 thousand Panthers. One more thing is curious: in March 1945, hundreds of these tanks, equipped with night vision devices, launched an attack on Soviet troops near Balaton. But even this technical trick did not help.

Story armored forces begins at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the first models of self-propelled armored vehicles, more like matchboxes on tracks, nevertheless showed themselves perfectly on the battlefield.

The high cross-country ability of the fire fortresses gave them a huge advantage in a positional war. Truly successful fighting machine It was supposed to easily overcome trenches, barbed wire and the advanced landscape dug up by artillery preparation, inflict good fire damage, support the “queen of the fields” (infantry) and never break. It is not surprising that the most influential powers in the world immediately joined the "tank race".

The dawn of the tank era

The laurels for the creation of the first tank rightfully belong to the British, who designed and successfully used their “Tank. Model 1” in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, completely demoralizing the enemy infantry. However, there were still decades of painstaking work on armor, rate of fire, cross-country ability, it was necessary to change the weak carburetor engine to a more powerful diesel engine, come up with a rotating turret, solve problems with heat dissipation and the quality of movement and transmission. The world was waiting for tank duels and anti-tank mines, round-the-clock operation of steel mills, insane projects of multi-turreted monsters and, finally, a silhouette carved in the fire and fury of the wars of the twentieth century modern tank familiar to everyone now.

Calm before the storm

In the 1930s, England, Germany, the USA and Soviet Union, anticipating big war, racing created and improved their tank lines. Design engineers of heavy armored vehicles were poached and bought from each other by hook or by crook. For example, in 1930, the German engineer E. Grote worked at the Bolshevik plant, who created a number of interesting developments, which later formed the basis of later models of tanks.

Germany hastily forged the ranks of the Panzerwaffe, the British created the Royal Tank Corps, the USA - the Armored Force. By the beginning of the war, the tank forces of the USSR already had two legendary vehicles that did a lot for victory - the KV-1 and T-34.
By the beginning of World War II, the competition to each other was mainly the USSR and Germany. The Americans also produced an impressive amount of armored vehicles, giving only 80 thousand under lend-lease to the allies, but their vehicles did not gain such fame as the Tigers, Panthers and T-34s. The British, because of the disagreements that existed before the war, in which direction to develop the tank industry, gave up the palm and used mainly American M3 and M5 tanks on the battlefields.

Legendary tanks of World War II

"Tiger" - heavy german tank breakthrough, was created at the factories of Henschel und Sohn. For the first time he showed himself in a battle near Leningrad in 1942. It weighed 56 tons, was armed with an 88 mm cannon and two machine guns, and was protected by 100 mm armour. Carried five crew members. Could dive under water to 3.5 meters. Among the shortcomings are the complexity of the design, high cost (the production of one "Tiger" cost the treasury, like the cost of two medium tanks "Panther"), incredibly high fuel consumption, problems with undercarriage in winter conditions.

The T-34 was developed at the design bureau of the Kharkov Locomotive Plant under the leadership of Mikhail Koshkin just before the war. It was a manoeuvrable, well-protected tank equipped with a powerful diesel engine and a long-barreled 76mm gun. The reports, however, mentioned problems with optics, visibility, cramped fighting compartment, lack of radios. Due to the lack of space for a full-fledged crew, the commander had to act as a gunner.

M4 Sherman - basic american tank that period - was produced at the factories of Detroit. The third (after T-34 and T-54) the most massive tank in the world. It has medium armor, is equipped with a 75-millimeter gun, and successfully proved itself in battles against German tanks in Africa. Cheap, easy to use, maintainable. Among the shortcomings: it easily overturns due to the high center of gravity.

"Panther" is a German tank of medium armor, the main competitor of Sherman and T-34 on the battlefields. Armed with a 75 mm tank gun and two machine guns, the thickness of the armor is up to 80 mm. First used in the Battle of Kursk.

The well-known tanks of the Second World War also include the German fast and light T-3, the Soviet heavily armored Joseph Stalin, which performed well during the storming of cities, and the founder of the single-turret heavy tanks KV-1 Klim Voroshilov.

Bad start

In 1941 the Soviet tank forces suffered crushing losses, since the German Panzerwaffe, having weaker light-armored T-4 tanks, were significantly superior to the Russians in their tactical skills, in the coherence of the work of crews and command. T-4, for example, initially had good overview, the presence of a commander's cupola and Zeiss optics, and the T-34 received these improvements only in 1943.

The rapid German strikes were skillfully reinforced by self-propelled guns, anti-tank guns and air raids, which made it possible to inflict massive damage. “It seemed to us that the Russians had created a tool that they would never learn to use,” wrote one of the German generals.

tank winner

After the completion of the T-34-85, with its “survivability”, it could seriously compete even with heavily armored, but clumsy German “Tigers”. Possessing incredible firepower and thick frontal armor, the "Tigers" could not compete with the "thirty-fours" in terms of speed and maneuverability, bogged down and drowned in difficult areas of the landscape. They required tankers and special rail vehicles for transportation. The Panther tank, with its high technical characteristics, like the Tiger, was capricious in operation, was expensive to manufacture.

During the war, the “thirty-four” was finalized, the crew compartment was expanded, equipped with intercoms, and an even more powerful gun was installed. Heavy armor easily withstood a 37mm gun. And most importantly, Soviet tankers mastered the methods of communication and interaction tank brigades on the battlefield, learned to use the speed, power and maneuverability of the new T-34-85, delivered swift blows to the rear of the enemy, destroying communications and fortifications. The machine began to brilliantly perform the tasks for which it was originally intended. Soviet industry has established a streaming production of improved, well-balanced models. It is especially worth noting the simplicity of the design and the possibility of quick cheap repairs, because it is important for a tank not only to effectively perform combat missions, but also to quickly return to service after damage or breakdown.

You can find a model of that time that surpasses the T-34 in terms of individual characteristics, but it is precisely in terms of the combination of performance characteristics that this tank can rightfully be called the best and most effective tank of the Second World War.

Another purely propaganda myth from the series "Russia is the birthplace of elephants." It is very easy to refute. It is enough to ask a Stalinist agitpropist a very simple question: “What exactly does the best mean?” And what period of World War II? If 1941-42, then this is one thing. If 1942-44, then another. If 1944-45, then the third. For in these different periods the tanks were also very different (in many ways - even fundamentally different). Therefore, the above statement is simply fundamentally methodologically incorrect.

This could be the end of the refutation of this myth. However, the topic of the T-34 without this mythology is interesting enough to be discussed in more detail. Let's start with the fact that although the T-34 was not the best tank of World War II (due to the incorrectness of the very concept of "best" in this context), its design became perhaps the most influential tank design in the history of not only World War II, but and tank building in general.

Why? Yes, because the T-34 became the first truly massive and relatively successful implementation of the concept of the main battle tank, which became dominant in all subsequent tank building. It was the T-34 that became the starting point, model and inspiration for creating a whole string of production tanks and World War II ("Panther", "Royal Tiger", "Pershing") and post-war (M48, M60, "Leopard", AMX-30). It was not until the 1980s that the global tank industry switched to a new concept of the main battle tank, closer to the German Tiger tank.

Now back to the concept of "best". Let's start with some statistics. On June 22, 1941, there were 967 T-34 tanks in the western border military districts (Leningrad, Baltic Special, Western Special, Kiev Special and Odessa). That's right - nine hundred sixty-seven. Which did not at all prevent the Wehrmacht from completely destroying the ENTIRE first strategic echelon of the Red Army. And only thanks to his own strategic mistakes, Hitler did not win back in October (and even in September). I will discuss these errors in more detail in a separate section of the book. In other words, strategically the Germans simply did not notice the T-34. As more than 300 completely monstrous heavy KV-1s did not notice.

Further. The overall ratio of tank losses in World War II between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht was approximately 4:1. The lion's share of these losses were precisely the T-34. The average "lifetime" of a Soviet tank on the battlefield was 2-3 tank attacks. German - 10-11. 4-5 times more. Agree that with such statistics it is very difficult to substantiate the assertion that the T-34 is really the best tank of World War II.

The right question should not be "Which tank is the best?" and “What qualities should an ideal main battle tank have?” and “How close to the ideal is this or that tank (in particular, the T-34)?”

As of the summer of 1941, the optimal medium (main battle) tank was supposed to have a long-barreled large-caliber gun (at that time - 75/76 mm); 1-2 machine guns to protect against enemy infantry; sufficient anti-ballistic armor to hit enemy tanks and artillery, while remaining invulnerable to them; crew of 5 people (commander, driver, loader, gunner, radio operator); convenient means of observation and aiming; reliable radio communication; sufficiently high speed (50-60 km / h on the highway); high throughput and maneuverability; reliability; ease of operation and repair; ease of management; the possibility of mass production as well as sufficient development potential to constantly be "one step ahead of the enemy."

With a gun and armor, the T-34 was more than okay for a year (before the appearance in mass quantities tank PzKpfw IV with a long-barreled 75 mm gun 7.5 cm KwK 40). The wide tracks gave the tank excellent maneuverability and maneuverability. For mass production, the tank was also almost ideal; maintainability in front-line conditions was also on top.

Firstly, there were few radio stations, so they were not installed on all tanks, but only on the tanks of unit commanders. Which the Germans quickly knocked out (with 50-mm anti-tank guns or 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, or even 37-mm "mallets" from ambushes from a short distance) ... after which the rest were poked like blind kittens and became easy prey.

Further. As was often the case in the USSR, the designers of the tank decided to save on the number of crew members and assigned the tank commander the function of a gunner. Which reduced the effectiveness of shooting, and made the tank almost uncontrollable. As well as a tank platoon, a company ... and so on.

Observation and aiming devices left much to be desired. As a result, when the T-34 approached at a distance long enough to see the enemy ... it was already in the penetration zone of 50-mm, short-barreled 75-mm and even 37-mm guns (and 47-mm guns of the Czechoslovak 38 (t) , which the Germans had a lot). The result is clear. Yes, and unlike German tanks, in which each crew member had his own hatch ... in the T-34 there were two hatches for four. What this meant in terms of combat for the crew of a wrecked tank, no need to explain.

By the way, the presence of a diesel engine on the T-34 did not affect its flammability in any way. For it is not fuel that burns and explodes, but its vapors ... therefore, diesel T-34s (and KVs) burned no worse than gasoline Panzerkampfwagens.

As in the USSR in general, when designing the T-34, priority was given to the simplicity and cheapness of the design at the expense of the quality characteristics of the design as a whole. So, an important disadvantage was the system of control drives, which went through the entire tank from the driver's seat to the transmission, which greatly increased the effort on the control levers and made gear shifting much more difficult.

In the same way, the individual spring suspension system with large-diameter rollers used on the T-34, being very simple and cheap to manufacture in comparison with the Pz-IV suspension, turned out to be large in placement and rigid in movement. The suspension system of the T-34 was also inherited from the tanks of the BT series. Simple and technologically advanced in manufacturing, it is due to big size rollers, which means a small number of reference points per track (five instead of eight for the Pz-IV), and spring damping led to a strong rocking of the vehicle in motion, which made it completely impossible to fire on the move. In addition, in comparison with the torsion bar suspension, it occupied 20% more volume.

Let's give the floor to those who had the opportunity to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the T-34 - both at the training ground and in battle. Here, for example, is the report of the commander of the 10th tank division 15th Mechanized Corps of the Kyiv Special Military District following the results of the battles of June - July 1941:

“The armor of vehicles and hulls from a distance of 300-400 m is penetrated by a 37-mm armor-piercing projectile. The sheer sheets of the sides are pierced by a 20-mm armor-piercing projectile. When overcoming ditches, due to the low installation, the machines burrow with their noses, traction with the ground is insufficient due to the relative smoothness of the tracks. At direct hit projectile falls through the front hatch of the driver. The caterpillar of the car is weak - it takes any projectile. The main and onboard clutches fail "

And here are excerpts from the test report of the T-34 (note - the export version, which had significantly more high quality assembly and individual components than serial, so we are talking about fundamental design flaws) at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the USA in 1942:

“The first breakdown of the T-34 (the track burst) occurred approximately at the 60th kilometer, and after overcoming 343 km, the tank failed and could not be repaired. The failure occurred due to poor performance of the air cleaner (another Achilles plate of the tank), as a result of which a lot of dust got into the engine and pistons and cylinders were destroyed.

The main disadvantage of the hull was recognized as water permeability as its lower part when overcoming water barriers and top during rain. AT heavy rain a lot of water flowed into the tank through the cracks, which could lead to the failure of electrical equipment and even ammunition.

The main noted drawback of the tower and the fighting compartment as a whole is crowding. The Americans could not understand how our tankers got crazy in the tank in the winter in sheepskin coats. A poor mechanism for turning the turret was noted, especially since the motor was weak, overloaded and terribly sparked, as a result of which the resistances for adjusting the turning speeds burned out, and the gear teeth crumbled.

An insufficiently high initial speed (about 620 m / s against a possible 850 m / s) was recognized as a disadvantage of the gun, which I associate with the low quality of Soviet gunpowder. What this meant in battle, I think, no need to explain.

Steel tracks T-34 were simple in design, wide, but American (rubber-metal), in their opinion, were better. The shortcoming of the Soviet caterpillar chain was considered by the Americans to be the mated tensile strength of the track. This was exacerbated by the poor quality of the track pins. The suspension on the T-34 tank was recognized as bad, because the Americans had already unconditionally abandoned the Christie suspension as obsolete.

The disadvantages of the V-2 diesel engine are a poor air cleaner, which: does not clean the air entering the engine at all; wherein throughput the air cleaner is small and does not provide the required amount of air even when the engine is idling. As a result, the motor does not develop full power and dust entering the cylinders leads to their rapid operation, compression drops and the motor loses power. In addition, the filter is made in a very primitive way from a mechanical point of view: in the places of electric spot welding, the metal is burned through, which leads to oil leakage, etc.

The transmission is unsatisfactory, obviously outdated design. During its operation in tests, the teeth on all gears completely crumbled. On both motors, bad starters are low-power and unreliable designs. The welding of armor plates is extremely rough and sloppy."

It is unlikely that such test results are compatible with the concept of "the best tank of the Second World War." And by the summer of 1942, after the appearance of improved "fours", the advantage of the T-34 in artillery and armor had also disappeared. Moreover, he began to concede in these key components to his main adversary - the "four" (and did not make up for this gap until the end of the war). “Panthers and “tigers” (as well as specialized self-propelled guns - tank destroyers) generally dealt with the T-34 easily and naturally. Like the new anti-tank guns - 75- and 88-mm. Not to mention the cumulative shells of "Panzershreks" and "Panzerfausts".

In general, the T-34 was not, of course, the best tank of World War II. It was an acceptable tank in general (although from the summer of 1942 it was inferior to its opponents in almost all key components). But there were many of these tanks (in total, more than 52,000 T-34s were produced during the war). Which predetermined the outcome of the war, in which it turned out that the winner is not the one who has the best warriors, tanks, planes, self-propelled guns, etc., but who has many times more of them.

In general, as usual, they filled up with corpses and showered with pieces of iron. And so they won. And Russian women still give birth.

Introduction

To understand which tank is the best, you must first understand what it is intended for. The illiterate majority believes that the main purpose of the tank is to meet the enemy’s combat vehicle in an open field and defeat it. In this case, naturally, the main characteristics of the tank are the thickness of the armor and the initial velocity of the projectile. At the same time, the caliber of the projectile and, accordingly, the gun should not be very inferior to the caliber battleship. This is how, according to amateurs and fans of electronic games, ideal tanks look like.

In fact, the main task of the tank is to enter a hole in the enemy's defense (which was provided by artillery or competent intelligence) and surround, defeat, and scare. To accomplish this task, completely different qualities are needed - mobility, reliability of the undercarriage and engine, a large supply of transportable fuel and shells. They may object to me. The enemy will throw his tank troops into the breakthrough area and a direct collision is inevitable.
The answer to this question was found German troops in the summer of forty-one. With the threat of a frontal tank strike, you must run away hiding behind anti-tank weapons. From these positions, we will try to determine the best tank of the Second World War.

Required armor thickness

Ideal armor consists of several layers - a hard layer, plastic (for extinguishing a cumulative jet), a layer of medium hardness, a substrate, a lining. In total, twelve meters are obtained. This I mean that it is simply not possible to protect a tank one hundred percent. Now I will express not a lot of complicated but very important idea for the subsequent understanding. The armor of the tank should be SUCH THICKNESS so that the enemy would have to use powerful enough and, accordingly, HEAVY AND EXPENSIVE anti-tank guns to penetrate it. The concepts of heavy and expensive for each historical period will be determined by the level of development of industry. For the period of the Second World War, an anti-tank gun with a high initial speed armor-piercing projectile with a caliber of 76.2 mm and above was both heavy and expensive. Most a prime example these are our anti-tank guns ZIS-2 and BS-3. The ZIS-2 was not much heavier than a forty-five-millimeter anti-tank gun, but ten thousand of them were fired in three years. And an anti-tank gun of a caliber of forty-five millimeters, only in the forty-third year, seventeen thousand were fired. With BS-3 it's even worse. They pierced anything, but the weight of three thousand six hundred kilograms made it difficult to maneuver. And the high cost made it possible to produce only one and a half thousand guns. Another very telling example. In the forty-fourth year, they tried to strengthen the reservation of the T-34-85. The thickness of the front sheet was increased to seventy-five millimeters. The driver's hatch was made a hundred millimeters thick. But as it turned out, the German tank gun of 88 mm caliber still pierces the frontal armor. Therefore, they decided not to overload the suspension and transmission and leave the armor with a thickness of forty-five millimeters, although in the forty-fourth year such armor protected only from fragments.
Powerful and heavy anti-tank guns have low maneuverability and low rate of fire. They are difficult to disguise and in general they are simply few. Therefore, it is not possible to reliably cover the ENTIRE front with them.

Knowing the criteria for an ideal tank - optimal armor, large ammunition load, mobility, reliability and range, we will analyze the most bulk tanks Second World War.

M-4 Sherman

The American T-4 Sherman tank was a genuine misunderstanding made on the knee. He was very tall and had a very funny "tractor" suspension. Its gun power and armor protection were mediocre. Due to the lack of a planetary rotation mechanism, its transmission can be called primitive. But this primitive transmission was made in America and had amplifiers and synchronizers where needed. Therefore, the control of the tank was easy, and the design itself was quite reliable. The ammunition load was quite large, the radio station was the best in the world. The shells did not detonate when the tank was hit. And most importantly, it was produced in huge quantities. In an open field against the Tiger, Sherman had no chance. But as a TOOL global war he was much more useful than the Tiger. I strongly advise you to read the memoirs of a veteran who fought almost the entire war on foreign tanks. The book is on the Internet, called - "Tankman on a foreign car." Reading these memoirs, I concluded that in the forty-fourth and in the forty-fifth year our command used tank troops in the main CORRECTLY.

German tanks

I'll start from the end, with the Panther and the Tiger. Both tanks were typical. They had a very modern and efficient suspension. But from the point of view of production and combat operation, this suspension was the height of idiocy. Weight, especially for the tiger, was disastrously overpriced. Fuel supply is minimal. Therefore, there is no need to talk about any mobility. These tanks could operate as efficiently as possible only in the role of a mobile firing point.

The T-4 tank had an ancient "tractor" suspension and modern spaced armor. He received a long-barreled gun of 75 mm caliber only by the middle of the war. Because of the muzzle brake that appeared, it was often confused with the Tiger.

The most perfect was the German tank T-3. He had a modern torsion bar suspension, plus oil compensators on the first and last rollers. He had the highest speed - almost seventy kilometers per hour. Moreover, the speed measurement was carried out by our specialists in Kubinka. True, why such a speed is not clear to the tank. They don’t drive at such a speed not in a column, not across the battlefield. A legitimate question arises - why was the best combat vehicle removed from service? The answer is the simplest - the narrow hull did not allow the installation of a 75 mm caliber gun.

T-44 is the best combat vehicle

I will say right away that the T-44 tank did not have to fight, and it reached its full perfection two years after the end of the war. But using his example, you can show what the ideal combat vehicle of the Second World War should have been.
The history of the design of the T-44 tank began with a strong desire of Soviet designers to replace something, or at least improve legendary tank T-34. Fundamental changes and design improvements accumulated, but Stalin, fearing a reduction in mass production, forbade their implementation. After the liberation of eastern Ukraine, the question arose what kind of car to run in Kharkov? And here we decided that it was time for a new model.
The new tank had a simple hull with vertical side plates. This made it possible to erect a large tower. The driver's hatch and the machine gun nest were missing from the front sheet. It has become monolithic and more durable. The suspension has become a modern torsion bar. And most importantly, tank designers severely beat the designers of diesel engines. Those, in turn, removed to other places all the auxiliary mechanisms of the engine, which were in favor of its dimensions. As a result, the hull of the tank turned out to be three hundred millimeters lower. In the transmission, the gear ratios of the gears were changed and this reduced the operating loads and increased reliability. Almost all fuel tanks were located in the engine compartment. I say practically because in the forward part of the hull to the right of the driver's mechanic, they still placed one tank of fuel. The only thing that didn't let new car in a bright future there were side clutches inherited from the T-34.
The new car was fired at the training ground from German cannons of 75 and 88 mm caliber. Then they added the thickness of the armor and fired again. As a result of the increase in weight, the suspension and transmission stopped "pulling". The suspension was urgently reinforced and the side clutches were replaced with planetary turning mechanisms. The result was the T-54. It turns out that the T-44 came very close but did not become the best combat vehicle of the Second World War.

Designing the best tank of World War II

Of course, we take the T-44 hull as a basis. We put the planetary transmission. It will make it possible to make a sufficiently mobile machine weighing thirty-six tons with an engine power of five hundred and twenty horsepower. We remove the fuel tank from the fighting compartment. And instead of it we make a vertical tank in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe stern sheet. At the same time, the body is lengthened by only twenty centimeters, and we get four hundred liters of diesel fuel. Frontal and side armor eighty millimeters thick. It may be objected to me that the frontal armor is usually made thicker than the side. But our frontal armor is sloping and its REDUCED thickness is one hundred and sixty millimeters. We make the tower welded and with a more developed aft part. This will increase ammo capacity and improve the balance of the turret. As for weapons, we will limit ourselves to an eighty-five millimeter caliber gun. Weaving is certainly more powerful, but the ammunition load is almost halved. And as we found out during raids on the rear of the enemy, ammunition is the main thing. So we got the best tank of the Second World War.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A FOOL?

The fool does not read the article (or reads but does not understand the meaning of what he read), but immediately begins to comment. And most importantly, unlike smart person, the fool never doubts.
What am I talking about? Just another comment on an article.
Quote.
The best among which tanks?
The T-44 was just the logical conclusion of the T-34/85. And just like the T-34/85, it had a weak 85 mm ZIS-S-53 gun.
For comparison, the main tanks of the Americans of those years, the M26 Pershing, were equipped with a powerful 90 mm cannon.
The British A41 Centurion was equipped with the most powerful 76 mm QF 17 pounder cannon. And even the lighter A34 Comet (generally light, cruising) was equipped with a powerful 76 mm QF 77 mm HV cannon, next to which the Soviet 85 mm ZIS-S-53 tank gun nervously smoked on the sidelines.
Therefore, the USSR got out and invented some kind of "medium tanks". The time of which (medium infantry, actually) ended during the Second World War and the whole world switched to the MAIN BATTLE TANK, PLUS some additionally had auxiliary light tanks. So these auxiliary light tanks for technical specifications somewhere approximately and corresponded to the T-44.
Why did the essentially auxiliary BTT suddenly become some kind of "best" there, taking into account the existing main one (MBT)?
End of quote.
Let's start from the end. I didn't understand the last sentence. There are some strange abbreviations that, when deciphered, break the logic of the Russian language - taking into account the existing main MAIN BATTLE TANK.
Apparently the author wanted to say that the T-44 was auxiliary tank. Just wondering which tank the author considers the main one?

But the main claim of the author is to the weak gun of the T-44 tank. Why does he need a more powerful gun? Fight the king tigers?
That is, my entire article, where I explain that a tank IS A COMPLEX OF QUALITIES - mobility, protection, the amount of ammunition and much more, did not enter the author's brain. It is practically impossible to explain that the T-44 tank was supposed to fight the tigers last.
Now about tanks with good and powerful guns. The American had a muzzle brake on the cannon, that is, after firing for about twenty seconds, he did not see anything in the scope and did not understand where his projectile had flown.
By the way, the installation of a muzzle brake made it possible to install a hundred millimeter caliber gun on the T-44.

The photo shows a T-44 with a 100 mm cannon. A projectile weighing sixteen kilograms accelerated to a speed of nine hundred meters per second.
Let's compare the power of the guns. American - 3970000 joules, ours - 6400000 joules. Even somehow it became not convenient for the Americans.
The author also recalls some MEDIUM infantry tanks. So here is our role. infantry tanks at the end of the war, the SU-152 and IS-2 were carried out. True, they were called breakthrough tanks.

Although the first World War was marked by the appearance of tanks, World War II showed the real fury of these mechanical monsters. During the hostilities, they played an important role, both among the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition and among the powers of the "axis". Both opposing sides created a significant number of tanks. Listed below are ten outstanding tanks of World War II - the most powerful machines of this period ever built.

10. M4 Sherman (USA)

The second largest tank of the Second World War. Released in the USA and some others Western countries anti-Hitler coalition mainly due to American program Lend-Lease, which provided military support to the foreign Allied Powers. The Sherman medium tank had a standard 75 mm gun with 90 rounds of ammunition and was equipped with relatively thin frontal (51 mm) armor compared to other vehicles of that period.

Designed in 1941, the tank was named after the famous American Civil War general, William T. Sherman. The machine participated in numerous battles and campaigns from 1942 to 1945. The relative lack of firepower was compensated by their huge numbers: about 50,000 Shermans were produced during World War II.

9. Sherman Firefly (UK)

The Sherman Firefly is a British variant of the M4 Sherman tank, which was equipped with a devastating 17-pounder anti-tank gun, more powerful than the original 75 mm Sherman gun. The 17-pounder was destructive enough to damage any known tank of the time. The Sherman Firefly was one of those tanks that terrified the Axis and was characterized as one of the deadliest fighting vehicles of the Second World War. In total, more than 2,000 units were produced.

8. T-IV (Germany)

The PzKpfw IV is one of the most widely used and massive (8,696 units) German tanks during World War II. It was armed with a 75 mm cannon, which could destroy the Soviet T-34 at a distance of 1200 meters.

Initially, these vehicles were used to support infantry, but eventually took on the role of a tank (T-III), and began to be used in battle as the main combat units.

7. T-34 (Soviet Union)

This legendary tank was the most massive during the War and the second most produced of all time (about 84 thousand vehicles). It is also one of the longest running tanks ever made. Until now, many surviving units are found in Asia and Africa.

The popularity of the T-34 is partly due to the sloped 45 mm frontal armor, which did not penetrate German shells. It was a fast, agile and durable vehicle, causing serious concern to the command of the invading German tank units.

6. T-V "Panther" (Germany)

The PzKpfw V "Panther" is a German medium tank that appeared on the battlefield in 1943 and remained until the end of the war. A total of 6,334 units were created. The tank reached speeds of up to 55 km/h, had strong 80 mm armor and was armed with a 75 mm gun with an ammunition capacity of 79 to 82 high-explosive fragmentation and armor-piercing shells. The T-V was powerful enough to damage any enemy vehicle at the time. It was technically superior to the tanks of the Tiger and T-IV types.

And although later, the T-V "Panther" was surpassed by numerous Soviet T-34s, she remained her serious opponent until the end of the war.

5. "Comet" IA 34 (UK)

One of the most powerful combat vehicles in Great Britain and probably the best that was used by this country in the Second World War. The tank was armed with a powerful 77 mm cannon, which was a shortened version of the 17-pounder. Thick armor reached 101 millimeters. However, the Comet did not have a significant impact on the course of the War due to its late introduction to the battlefields - around 1944, when the Germans were retreating.

But be that as it may, during his short term operation, this military machine has shown its effectiveness and reliability.

4. "Tiger I" (Germany)

"Tiger I" - German heavy tank developed in 1942. It had a powerful 88-mm gun with 92-120 rounds of ammunition. It was successfully used against both air and ground targets. The full German name of this beast sounds like Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E, while the Allies simply called this car "Tiger".

It accelerated to 38 km / h and had armor without a slope with a thickness of 25 to 125 mm. When it was created in 1942, it suffered from some technical problems, but was soon freed from them, turning into a ruthless mechanical hunter by 1943.

The Tiger was a formidable vehicle, which forced the Allies to develop better tanks. It symbolized the strength and power of the Nazi war machine, and until the middle of the war, not a single Allied tank had sufficient strength and power to withstand the Tiger in a direct collision. However, during final stage World War II, the dominance of the Tiger was often challenged by better-armed Sherman Fireflies and Soviet tanks IS-2.

3. IS-2 "Joseph Stalin" (Soviet Union)

The IS-2 tank belonged to a whole family of heavy tanks of the Joseph Stalin type. It had characteristic sloped armor 120 mm thick and a large 122 mm gun. Frontal armor was impenetrable for German 88-mm shells anti-tank guns at a distance of more than 1 kilometer. Its production began in 1944; a total of 2,252 tanks of the IS family were built, of which about half were modifications of the IS-2.

During the Battle of Berlin, IS-2 tanks destroyed entire German buildings using high-explosive fragmentation shells. It was a real ram of the Red Army when moving towards the heart of Berlin.

2. M26 "Pershing" (USA)

The United States created a heavy tank, which belatedly took part in World War II. It was developed in 1944 total produced tanks amounted to 2,212 units. The Pershing was more sophisticated than the Sherman, with a lower profile and more large caterpillars, which provided the car with better stability.

The main gun had a caliber of 90 millimeters (70 shells were attached to it), powerful enough to penetrate the armor of the Tiger. "Pershing" had the strength and power for a frontal attack of those machines that could be used by the Germans or the Japanese. But only 20 tanks took part in the fighting in Europe and very few were sent to Okinawa. After the end of World War II, the Pershings took part in the Korean War and continued to be used by the American troops. The M26 Pershing could have been a game changer had it been thrown onto the battlefield earlier.

1. "Jagdpanther" (Germany)

The Jagdpanther is one of the most powerful tank destroyers in World War II. It was based on the Panther chassis, entered service in 1943, and served until 1945. It was armed with an 88 mm cannon with 57 rounds and had 100 mm frontal armor. The gun retained accuracy at a distance of up to three kilometers and had muzzle velocity over 1000 m/s.

Only 415 tanks were built during the war. The Jagdpanthers went through their baptism of fire on July 30, 1944 near Saint Martin Des Bois, France, where they destroyed eleven Churchill tanks in two minutes. Technical superiority and advanced firepower did not render special influence on the course of the war due to the late introduction of these monsters.